Cass R. Sunstein is a prominent Law & Economics teacher (first at the University of Chicago, then at Harvard). Not only has he written reference handbooks on Regulation, he was also the one who inspired the Regulation policies of Obama. In his 2013 book Simpler, he expresses his stance: to be better, public policies need to be simpler.
In this essay, Sunstein explores how behavorial economics might lead to improve public decision-making processes. He bases its stances upon his experience as the Administrator, from 2009 to 2012, of the US Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs; that is why anyone who cares about Regulation should read it and ask themselves if simplicity, as the author states, may or may not be an actual leading principle for an effective government.
The OIRA, under the supervision of the Office of Management and Budget placed within the Executive Office, reviews the draft Regulations that are prepared by the cabinets of various rulemaking agencies. In this view, the OIRA can be regarded as a sort of custodian of the quality of Regulation throughout the US; conversely to the mainly consultative functions granted to the Conseil d'Etat in France, the OIRA's opinions are binding. Hence, a draft project shall not be issued nor be enforced without its prior consent. Part of OIRA's defining mission is also to centralize all the information held by diverse people within the executive branch, as to enable its access and circulation between all the rulemaking agencies responsible for elaborating and producing binding regulations.
Simpler is dedicated to the detailed study of the main decisions taken under Sunstein's decisive influence by the OIRA in the Regulation field during Obama's first mandate (2009-2012). Before taking up government functions, Sunstein focused part of his academic work on the interactions that are the most likely to occur between behavioral economics, law and public policy. To him, "a general lesson is that small, inexpensive policy initiatives, informed by behavioral economics, can have big benefits" (p. 41). He namely provides that "without a massive reduction in its current functions, government can be far more effective, far less confusing, far less counterproductive, and far more helpful if it opts, wherever it can, for greater simplicity" (p. 11).
This reference to 'simplicity', from which the name of Sunstein's essay stems, aims at translating all the efforts done by public authorities, under the supervision of the OIRA, to issue rules that were clearer and more accessible than before and that provided their subjects (whether they are citizens, companies, or federal administrations) a greater freedom in the choices they were able to make.
Throughout his book and with a little help from the various situations he had to face during his term at the OIRA, Sunstein shows that there is a virtuous relationship between a better information of the agents (whether they are the authors or the subjects of the norms at stake), a greater simplicity in public decision-making process and a better quality of the regulations meilleure qualité de la réglementation in force in a State. This paper hence aims to sum up the main points of the essay (I.), before making a few comments about it (II.).
In The Journal of Regulation the summaries’ translation are done by the Editors and not by the authors
ENGLISH
Bibliographic Report (Book): Libéralisation et services publics : économie postale [Liberalization and Public Services: Postal Economics] by François Boldron, Claire Borsenberger, Denis Joram, Sébastien Lecou, and Bernard Roy.
The authors of Liberalization and Public Services: Postal Economics set out to provide a complete and comprehensive economic study of the challenges and possibilities engendered by the liberalization of the French Postal Service. Using experiences from other countries and industries, as well as taking into account the specificities of France’s postal service, the authors have used economic studies to provide an exhaustive account of what the contours of the postal service of the future may be.
ITALIAN
Relazione bibliografica (Libri) : Libéralisation et services publics : économie postale [Liberalizzazione e Servizi pubblici: economia postale] di François Boldron, Claire Borsenberger, Denis Joram, Sébastien Lecou, and Bernard Roy.
Gli autori di “Libéralisation et services publics : économie postale” (Liberalizzazione e Servizi pubblici: economia postale) cercano di predisporre uno studio economico completo e comprensivo delle sfide e delle possibilità generate dalla liberalizzazione del servizio postale francese. Utilizzando le esperienze di altri paesi e di altre industrie, e prendendo in considerazione le specificità del servizio postale francese, gli autori hanno usato studi economici per definire il possibile futuro del sevizio postale.
Through the publication of a new regulatory framework by Postcomm, the British Postal Services Commission, on May 27, 2010, Postcomm outlines its plans for regulating the postal sector in the years following 2012. This framework plans to adapt postal regulation to allow {Royal Mail} to profitably fulfill its Universal Service Obligations faced with drastically declining mail volumes and increased competition.
From 1993 to 2006, Sophie Schiller was an associate Professor at the HEC School of Management, in charge of the Majeure stratégie fiscale et juridique international (Major in international taxation and legal strategy), and responsible for teaching civil law to first year students. From 1999 to 2006 she was co-director of the Master in Business Law at Université Paris 13, an elected member of the Academic and Research Committee (comité scientifique) and the Secretary of the Commission de droit privé (Commission on Private Law). Since 2006, she is in charge of teaching business contract law, corporate law and competition law to postgraduate students at Université Lille 2.
Thematic Report (Energy): The Swiss Federal Administrative Tribunal ruled on July 8th, 2010, that ElCom, the Swiss energy regulator, had overridden its powers in its decision of March 6th 2009. In a decision of July 8th 2010, the Bundesverwaltungsgericht (the Swiss Federal Administrative Tribunal) partially amended a decision of the Eidgenössiche Elektrizitätskommission (ElCom, the Swiss Federal Electricity Commission), stating that it is unconstitutional and illegal for power-plant operators to bear the price of “system-services”.
FRENCH
Fiche thématique (énergie) : Le tribunal fédéral administratif suisse a rendu un arrêt le 8 juillet 2010 contre une décision du 6 mars 2009 de l'ElCom, le régulateur suisse de l'énergie, pour excès de pouvoir
Dans un arrêt du 8 juillet 2010, le Bundesverwaltungsgericht (le Tribunal Fédéral Administratif suisse) a partiellement annulé une décision de l'Eidgenössiche Elektrizitätskommission (ElCom, la Commission fédérale suisse de l'électricité), déclarant qu'il est anticonstitutionnel et illégal que les opérateurs des centrales électriques supportent le coût des "services systémiques"
GERMAN
Thematischer Bericht (Energie): das schweizerische Bundesverwaltungsgericht hat am 8. Juli 2010 die Verfügung der ElCom, die Eidgenössische Elektrizitätskommission, die Schweizer Regulierungsbehörde für Elektrizität, vom 6. März 2009 für ungültig erklärt.
In einer Entscheidung vom 8. Juli 2010 hat das Schweizer Bundesverwaltungsgericht eine ElCom-Verfügung vom 6. März 2010 zum Teil für ungültig erklärt, da die in der Verordnung vorgesehene Anlastung der Systemdienstleistungskosten an die Kraftwerke gesetzeswidrig ist.
SPANISH
Informe Temático (Energía): El Swiss Federal Administrative Tribunal (El Tribunal administrativo federal de Suiza) dictó el 8 de julio 2010 que ElCom, el Regulador suizo de energía, había sobrepasado sus poderes en su decisión del 6 de marzo 2009.
En una decisión del 8 de julio 2010, el Bundesverwaltungsgericht (El Tribunal administrativo federal de Suiza) anuló parcialmente la decisión de Eidgenössiche Elektrizitätskommission (ElCom, la Comisión suiza de electricidad federal) constatando que es inconstitucional e ilegal que las operadoras de centrales eléctricas soporten el precio de “servicios sistemáticos.”
The Autorité de régulation des communications électroniques et des postes (ARCEP — French Telecommunications and Postal Regulatory Authority) published a document on September 30, 2010—the fruit of one years work—in which it outlines ten recommendations and suggestions for network and Internet neutrality.
FRENCH
Fiche Thématique (Télécommunications, Internet): l'ARCEP publie 10 recommandations et propositions pour la neutralité du réseau et de l'Internet.
L'Autorité de régulation des communications électroniques et des postes, l'ARCEP, a publié un document le 30 Septembre 2010, au terme d'un an de travail, dans lequel elle dégage dix recommandations et suggestions pour la neutralité du réseau et de l'Internet.
GERMAN
Thematischer Bericht (Telekom, internet): die ARCEP hat 10 Empfehlungen und Vorschläge im Bereich Netz- und Internetneutralität verkündigt.
Die Autorité de Régulation des communications électroniques et des postes, (ARCEP - die französische Telekommunkations- und Postbehörde) hat am 30. September 2010, nach einem Jahr Arbeit, seine zehn Empfehlungen und Vorschläge im Bereich Netz- und Internetneutralität verkündigt.
SPANISH
El ARCEP publica 10 recomendaciones y proposiciones para la Red y la Neutralidad del Internet.
La Autorité de régulation des Communications électroniques et des postes (ARCEP – la Autoridad francesa de la regulación de telecomunicaciones y servicios postales) publicó el 30 de septiembre del 2010 un documento – fruto de un año de labor – en donde delinea diez recomendaciones y sugerencias para la red y la neutralidad del Internet.
The translated summaries are done by the Editors and not by the Authors.
ENGLISH
“Global Financial Integration, Thirty Years on. From reform to crisis”
combines many academic contributions on international financial
governance, that each offer original and in-depth analysis of the
financial crisis’ causes. To safeguard the authors’ legal and economic
reasoning, the bibliographical report has been divided in three parts
and will be brought to The Journal of Regulation’s readers in three
successive issues . The following report analyses the third part of the
volume.
After two years of implementation of France, the 2004 Directive on markets in financial instruments is to be reviewed at the European level in 2010. The French report, elaborated by Pierre Fleuriot, examines whether or not the directive’s main objectives –the deregulation of markets and the lowering of trading costs- were achieved in an efficient way.
